Skylighting is a popular means of introducing natural present outside building structures into interior rooms which may otherwise be deprived of natural lighting due lack of wall windows or other reasons. A skylight in its simplest form consists of some roof dome which allows light to enter an attic enclosure which in turn leads to a ceiling dome. The structure provides a path for light to enter from the outside of the building to the illumination destination.
Various inventors have disclosed many improvements and developments on the basic concept of skylighting. These include, but are not limited to, Bennett et. al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,021, issued May 11, 1982, which describes means of concentrating incident light by refraction and reflection; Freeman in U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,900, issued Jul. 20, 1982, which simplifies skylight construction by incorporating a flexible shaft attic enclosure; Sutton, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,622, issued Mar. 31, 1992, which teaches intensification of skylight illumination intensity by virtue of a reflector strategically placed within the roof dome; Yamaguchi, et. al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,601, issued May 26, 1992, which teaches a movable skylight; DeKeyser, et. al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,564, issued Nov. 21, 1995 and Jaster, et. al, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,873, issued Jul. 15, 1997, which both teach capture and direction of daylight to a target illumination destination; also notably DeBlock et. al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,339, issued Aug. 12, 1997, which teaches enhancement of illumination intensity by virtue of roof and ceiling dome structures incorporating reflective and refractive prisms, this in conjunction with a cylindrical cavity attic enclosure containing a highly reflective interior surface. These are but some of the many improvements and developments over the basic concept of passive skylighting. Although many developments and improvements have been introduced, skylighting remains until now limited by a single findamental operational restriction, being that of requiring proximate exterior daylight as a requirement for providing interior illumination.